SeaIntel: G6 will require ports to handle more containers per ship

SeaIntel says its analysis of the transpacific schedules of the carriers in the new G6 Alliance finds that their ships will spend 3.4 percent more time in port, but increase average vessel capacity 8 percent when compared to the New World Alliance and Grand Alliance, out of which they are being formed. "There is an old saying in the shipping industry: 'A ship makes its money at sea, not in port.' Clearly, a carrier gets paid to move containers from point A to point B -- not to sit idle in a port. The time at sea can be spent at two different purposes -- either to increase the number of round trips per year -- and thereby, the volume of paying cargo, or to decrease the vessel speed and save on bunker costs," SeaIntel said. &nbs...